The present invention relates generally to Internet based conversations between individuals, and more particularly to improved techniques for connecting individuals in conversations based on the individuals' interests.
Internet chat rooms have been in existence for some time. In general there are two types of chat rooms, private and public. In public chat rooms, anyone can join the chat room to discuss issues during any time that the chat room is active. In a public chat room, an individual typically locates the chat room and jumps into the conversation if it is appealing to the individual. The individual is able to simply listen in (i.e. view all comments as they are posted in the room) or the individual may join in by posting a comment. In general, there is no way to prevent an undesirable participant from joining in the conversation, possibly wasting the other participants' time. In private chat rooms, on the other hand, it is possible to prevent undesirable participants from joining a conversation. To join a private chat room, one typically needs a password that is disseminated by one or more of the current participants. In this way, a participant who starts a chat room is able, to some extent, to limit other participants from joining by giving the password to only those individuals they desire to join. Internet chat rooms are also fixed in the sense that they are typically pre-associated with a general topic. Such Internet chat rooms generally do not provide users with the ability to dynamically create a conversation with other users directed to current media content the users may be currently viewing. In particular, there is no ability to control access based on what is being said.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art are methods and systems for dynamically matching and connecting two or more conversants to a conversation without the drawbacks associated with prior art systems such as chat rooms.